McBride has also been handed chairmanship of the Remuneration Committee at Computacenter and is additionally a non-exec director of the company's board.

He started out in the IT game with IBM where he worked for 12 years in the sales department, eventually being promoted to become Big Blue's Unix marketing director for Europe.

McBride also had a stint at Crosfield Electronics as MD, held down the job of European president for Madge Networks, worked as veep and general manager for Dell's Northern Europe division and was CEO of T-Mobile UK.

"We are delighted that Brian has agreed to join our Board. He has relevant experience aplenty and, having known him for 30 years, I commend his independence of spirit and thought to all our shareholders," said Computacenter chairman Greg Lock. ®